Pistons at Rockets
The Detroit Pistons' bad month has them looking at an earlier end to the season than originally anticipated, and the team will use the final games of the regular season to give younger players on the roster a longer look. The Houston Rockets, who host the Pistons on Friday, don't have much left to play for in the regular season either, but at least they're headed to the playoffs.
Detroit was a solid postseason contender at 33-33 on March 11 but dropped 10 of the last 12 games and sits three games behind the eighth-place Miami Heat with four games to play, leading coach Stan Van Gundy to open up minutes for seldom-used younger players. "We're going to play Henry (Ellenson) these last four games," Van Gundy told reporters. "We're going to play Boban (Marjanovic). If (rookie Michael Gbinije's) healthy, we’re going to get him some minutes. But I want to see those guys operate with our guys, so some of the guys who have been playing a lot may have to take fewer minutes to get those guys minutes." The Rockets are locked into the No. 3 spot in the West, and the only thing left in the regular season is for star James Harden to lock up the MVP Award. “Yeah, of course it’s fun to be in the MVP race, period," Harden told reporters. "I just focus on winning games and playing and making sure we’re in the right mindset and we’re in the right vibe and right energy going into these next four games and going into what really counts."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, ROOT (Houston)
ABOUT THE PISTONS (35-43): Detroit blew a 20-point lead in Wednesday's loss to the Toronto Raptors and its only wins in the last 12 games came against teams owning the two worst records in the NBA - the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets. "We had them at 68 points through three quarters, then I don’t even remember getting a stop in the fourth quarter," Van Gundy told reporters of Wednesday's setback. "It was easy. We were slow in our rotation. We defended pretty well for three quarters and then just awful defense in the fourth." The team already shut down point guard Reggie Jackson, and only Ish Smith logged at least 30 minutes among the starters in Wednesday's defeat.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (53-25): Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook, whose team will likely face Houston in the first round of the playoffs, is the main contender to Harden in the MVP race, and Harden's teammates are squarely in his corner in the debate. "There’s no way he can't get it," Rockets shooting guard Eric Gordon told ESPN of Harden. "It’s just absolutely no way. You look at history, when you have a guy almost averaging a triple-double and winning games, you can’t take that away from him. Yeah, Westbrook is averaging a triple-double -- that is a crazy stat. There is definitely no way (Harden) won’t be on that MVP." Harden is past a wrist injury that plagued him at the end of March and he recorded 31 points and 10 assists in Wednesday's 110-104 win over the Denver Nuggets.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons C Andre Drummond is averaging 7.6 points over the last seven games - down from a season mark of 13.9.
2. Rockets PF Ryan Anderson (ankle) is expected to return from a six-game absence on Friday.
3. Houston earned a 99-96 win at Detroit on Nov. 21 after being swept in the two-game series in 2015-16.